


Friendly Folks Can Gather

by Mirrorinthebathroom



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: DJL Prompt, M/M, UC&P Park Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 19:01:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirrorinthebathroom/pseuds/Mirrorinthebathroom





	Friendly Folks Can Gather

Two people sit on a park bench and have a nice chat. As often happens. Maybe strangers? Perhaps friends? Lovers, boyfriends, girlfriends, siblings? Business-partners-friends-something- more-maybe? Perhaps protagonists in an off off Broadway play where all of the meaning is loaded into the subtext, where the thing that is being chatted about is not really the thing that is being chatted about, and the bench is a metaphor - probably.  


It's a tale as old as time, or as old as park benches at least. David doesn't have the patience to google when park benches may or may not have found their way into existence. He is too busy googling what it means when his eyeballs feel warm. He has been pondering the question since that very morning, when his business partner-friend-something-more-maybe Patrick Brewer had looked him in the eyes and suggestively told him he had a sloppy mouth.  


_What does it mean when your eyeballs_\- is as far as he has got before he is distracted by another body positioning itself at the other side of the bench. He flinches reflexively, as he always does when another human enters the large area that he deems to be his own personal space. He doesn't need to know who it is. He knows enough about them already. He knows that they have barged their way onto his bench and therefore he resents them very much, so he purposefully doesn't avert his eyes from his phone, now looking at it more intently than before.  
__

_ _"Hi." The voice is unexpectedly soft and warm and familiar.  
_ _

_ _David's mouth involuntarily turns up at the corners and he bites on his cheek to curtail the smile, his irritation at the interruption quickly subsiding, the perimeters of his personal space shrinking by the second.  
_ _

_ _David doesn't look up when he says, "Hi." It's little more than a whisper.  
_ _

_ _"I wasn't gonna disturb you, but I thought it'd be rude not to say hello."  
_ _

_ _"Well technically you said hi." David's eyes are wide now, looking at Patrick. "Were you going to not say anything and just ignore me like a stranger?" David says feigning indignation.  
_ _

_ _"Well, you looked so peaceful and I remember what happened when I interrupted that Tina Turner song at the store."  
_ _

_ _"Ugh, _ that_ Tina Turner song is poetry, and philistines deserve everything they get."  
_ _ __

__

_ _"Hmm, and I deserved...a muffin?"  
_ _

_ _"It was never going to cause a serious injury. I'm just surprised I managed to land it. You may or may not have noticed my lack of athletic prowess."  
_ _

_ _"It was admittedly a pretty good shot. But I'm still waiting for an apology."  
_ _

_ _David is frankly horrified and, frankly, it shows. _ _

_ _"Me? Apologise? I'm the one that lost a muffin! And I will defend that song with all the baked goods at my disposal. Forever and always. Have you learnt your lesson?"  
_ _

_ _"If that lesson is how to get blueberry stains out of cotton then, yes, I have definitely learnt my lesson." _ _

_ _Patrick is leaning forward, his elbows on his thighs, hands clasped together. Smiling, he turns to look at David who shrugs his shoulders a little, rolls his eyes before hiding his smirk behind his paper coffee cup.  
_ _

_ _It's cute. It's cute sitting on a park bench having a nice chat. It's cute sitting on a park bench having a nice chat with Patrick.  
_ _

_ _Before David gets lost in the cuteness of it all, he asks, "So what brings you to the botanical delights of Elmdale municipal park?"  
_ _

_ _Patrick leans back against the bench and looks out across the park. "I had errands to run, and this is the first afternoon off we have had in a while, so I'm just... catching up with stuff. How about you?"  
_ _

_ _"Would you be surprised if I told you it involves pizza?"  
_ _

_ _Patrick chuckles. "Nope."  
_ _

_ _"There's a good pizza place on the other side of the park. I used to get lunch there when I worked at the dreaded Blouse Barn. I just got a hankering for their pizza, so."  
_ _

_ _"So." Patrick smiles as he looks across at David.  
_ _

_ _David turns away and points across the park. "See that green and white awning? The neon sign in the window? The restaurant is actually called 'Old Joe's Place' for some reason. And they've got that neon sign with broken letters that they never seem to fix, no matter how many times I mention it. So it just says "Ea_ at _oe's."  
_ _

_ _Patrick chuckles. "That's kind of cute. You wouldn't get that at a chain restaurant. It's the quirks that makes these places stand out, make you want to... go back time after time. I'll have to try it someday."  
_ _

_ _"Yes, yes you definitely should."_ _

_ __ _

Patrick nods giving David a soft fond look, the one he gives everybody he presumes, and David frowns a little, wishing he would just fucking give it a rest to be honest. Give him a break from the looking and the cute, and the wild and errant hope. He just wants an afternoon off if that's OK with the universe.  


And because Patrick can read David's mind, and also his heavily telegraphed emotional cues, "Well, I should leave you in peace, I know you're sick of seeing me every day already." Patrick is smiling a soft smile, wedging his hands into his jean pockets as he stands up to leave. "Unless you need a lift?" David shakes his head. "OK, well I guess I'll...see you tomorrow."  


David is smiling politely again, the warmth in his eyeballs now spreading to his teeth. "Yes, see you tomorrow."  


"Good bye, David."  


"Good bye, Patrick."


End file.
